Rail anchor



*April 27, 1937. E. J. HENGGI ,078,

' RAIL ANCHOR Filed Jan. 4, 1935 f *E' l. P

; I I \\\'L WITNESSES Patented Apr. 27, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFF ICE RAIL ANCHOR Edward J. Hengg Oakmont, Pa., assignor to Henggi Rail Anchor Company, Oakmont, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application January 3 Claims.

This invention relates to rail anchors, that is, devices for preventing railroad rails from creeping longitudinally across the ties. Specifically it is an improvement on the anchor described in Henggi Reissue Patent No. 15,421.

To prevent a rail anchor from canting unduly when pressed against the side of a tie by the rail to which it is attached, some of the portions of the anchor which grip and bear against the rail base must extend longitudinally of the rail far enough to give the leverage necessary to substantially oppose the tendency to cant. In anchors known heretofore this leverage has been obtained in various ways, such as by bending one end of the anchor at right angles along the rail base, or making the anchor from a bar of sufficient width throughout its length to give the necessary leverage to its rail-engaging portions. A disadvantage of these types of rail anchors is that more metal is used than I have found to be necessary, and the anchors are therefore correspondingly heavy and expensive.

Another disadvantage of prior types of anchors arises when a railroad car is derailed and the wheels drop down and run along the rail base. In such cases the thick base-engaging portions of the anchor jaws in the path of the wheels are often struck so forcefully by the wheels that they are driven down through the rail base which is thus notched and damaged. Consequently, rails may have to be replaced after such accidents. It is among the objects of this invention to provide a rail anchor which is relatively light in weight but which grips the rail securely .and is highly resistant to canting, and which is unlikely to damage the rail when run over by the wheels of a derailed train.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a side view of a rail anchor; Fig. 2 a plan view thereof; Figs. 3 and 4 plan views of modified forms of anchors; and Fig. 5 a view taken on the line V-V of Fig. 1. 7

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 5 of the drawing, a one-piece rail anchor is shown formed from a substantially rigid steel bar of rectangular crosssection. The ends of the bar are doubled back to form hook-shaped jaws I and 2, the latter being substantially twice as long as the former and having an open portion 3 which is somewhat wider than that of jaw I. The inner surfaces 4 and 5 of these jaws approach each other at substantially the same angle as the top surfaces of the rail base approach each other; for example, when the rail anchor is to be used with a 13 4, 1935, Serial No. 405

rail base thejaw surfaces approach each other at substantially 154.

Intermediate its ends and nearer the smaller jaw than the larger the body portion 1 of the rail anchor is bowed inwardly so as to form a seat 8. The proportions and shape of the anchor are such that seat 8 will be within the line formed by the bottom surface 9 of the rail base if the top surfaces l l and I2 of the rail base be made to coincide with jaw surfaces 4 and 5, respectively. This will be readily understood from Fig. 1 in which a rail base is indicated in dotted lines and it is seen that rail anchor seat 8 is within the line formed by the rail base bottom surface 9.

In applying the rail anchor to a rail, large jaw 2 is first hooked over one side of the rail base so that its end engages upper surface 12 of the base. Jaw l is then swung upwardly until anchor seat 8 engages the bottom of the rail base and the end of the small jaw engages the lower end of rail surface II. The small jaw can not be moved from the position of preliminary engagement farther up surface H without distortion of the rail anchor, because the jaws have a differential leverage on the top of the rail base with respect to the intermediate hearing or seat 8 acting as a fulcrum against the bottom of the base. When the anchor as a whole rocks upon seat 8 as a bearing or fulcrum the larger jaw is permitted to move downwardly only the same distance as the smaller jaw moves upwardly by reason of the fact that the slope of upper surfaces II and I2 of the rail base is the same. The result is that the movement of the rail anchor toward the right in Fig. 1 into normal position causes a material distortion of the anchor, seat 8 being displaced downwardly with respect to its end jaws.

The operation of applying the rail anchor to a rail is completed by driving the smaller jaw up on the rail base by means of a sledge hammer or the like. The tendency of the rail anchor to return to its original shape results in an extremely strong gripping action on the rail base which is more than sufficient to hold the anchor in position in spite of any vibration to which the rail may be subjected and in spite of weather changes or the like. The rail anchor is placed in position so that body portion 7 abuts or lies flat against the side of a tie at that side which is opposed to the direction in which the rail tends to creep. By its engagement with the tie the rail anchor prevents longitudinal movement of the rail across the tie.

It is a feature of this invention that the portion 13 of each jaw which engages the rail base of this type without decreasing the leverage be-L. L tween the anchor and rail base. In this way less metal is required for forming the anchor and its Weight is reduced. 1

A further important advantage 'of-flattening the end l3 of each jaw is that the wheels of-a derailed train can pass over Tthe thin end more easily and with less jolting than over a thick end,

and, therefore, the jaw is not struck so forcefully and there is less likelihood of its damaging the rail base. -The width'of the jaw end need not be restricted to prior customary widths, but can be increased whereby the extra wide jaw distributes the force of the impact of derailed wheels over a greater area of the rail base.

The'wide flattened portions .13 of the jaws of the anchor shown in Figs. 1 andf2 extend laterally from both sides of-its body. However, the anchor may also be formed as shown in Fig. 3 in which the flattened laterally extending portion H of each jaw projects from, only on'e side of theanchor, jaw portion I4 or jaw I projecting from the side of the anchor opposite'to that from which the similar portion of jaw 2 projects. An advantage of this latter type of anchor is that as all of the laterallyextending portion of a jaw projects from only one side of the anchor, that portion projects out'farther than if half of it had to project from the other side of the anchor. Because of this greater leverage against canting is obtained than with the anchor of Fig. 2. Y

The anchor illustrated in Fig. 4 has jawswhose laterally. extending'portions l5 project from only one and the same side of the anchor. The advantage of this form over that shown in Fig. 3 is that both ends of the anchor are prevented to the same degree and at the same time .from canting.

In each embodiment a jaws laterally extending portion on the tie side of the anchor engages a portion of the adjoining rail base flange overlying the tie, because the body portion of the anchorlies flat against the side of the tie. Consequently, a portion of the base flange engaged by a jaw is supported from below by the tie, thereby further tending to prevent the rail from being notched in case of train derailment.

A rail anchor constructed in accordance with this invention securely grips the rail and is highly resistant to canting, but at the same time is lighter in weight and requires less metal than anchors .of this type made heretofore.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle and construction of my invention and have illustrated and described What I now consider to represent its best embodim nt. How ve I desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. A one-piece rail anchor formed of a substantially rectangular bar of resilient metal bent to'form a large jaw at one-end;a smaller jaw at the other end, and an intermediate bowed portion adapted to clamp on the base of a rail and :to'ilie flat against the side of a tie, said jaws and ,bowed portion being so formed and related that the large jaw may be slipped laterally over a rail base flange and the, bowed portion seated against the under sideof the rail base and then the small jaw driven over the opposite flange of said base, the two endsof the bar having their terminal portions elongated and progressively flattened thinned and widened whereby to form comparatively thin laterally extended seating, portions adapted to overlie the rail base flange and a portion of the tie thereunder to substantially eliminate flange notching, the entire flange-overlying portions of the ends of the anchor being mate rially wider and thinner than the body of the anchor under the rail base.

' 2. A one-piece rail anchor formed of a substantially rigid bar of resilient metal bent to form a large jaw at one end, a smaller jaw at the other end, and an intermediate bowed portion for engaging the base of a rail and adapted to lie flat against the side of a tie, said jaws and bowed portion all lying in the same plane and being so formed and related that the large jaw may he slipped laterally over a rail base flange and then by distorting the anchor the small jaw may be fitted over the opposite flange of said base, the entire flange-overlying portion of each of the jaws being materially reduced in thickness and increased in width relative to the rest of said bar, and thereby forming a laterally projecting portion adapted to engage a portion of a rail base flange overlying a tie, the laterally projecting portions of said jaws extending in the same direction from one side only of the anchor.

3. A one-piece rail anchor formed of a substantially rigid bar of resilient metal bent to form a large jaw at one end, a smaller jaw at the other end, and an intermediate bowed portion for engaging the base of a rail and adapted to lie flat against the side of a tie, said jaws and bowed portionall lying in the same plane and being so formed and related that the large jaw may be slippedlaterally over a rail base flange and then by distorting the anchor the small jaw may be fitted over the opposite flange of said base, the entire flange-overlying portion of each of the jaws being materially reduced in thickness and increased in width relative to the rest of said bar, and thereby forming a laterally projecting portion adapted to engage a portion of a rail base flange overlying a tie, the laterally projecting portions of said jaws extending from one side only of each jaw and. from opposite sides of the anchor..

. EDWARD J. HENGGI. 

